THE chief executive of Nationwide has said its staff will still be shopping and spending in Bournemouth despite the decision to let people work from anywhere.

His comments came as the building society – which employs hundreds of people at Portman House in Richmond Hill – revealed that pre-tax profits nearly doubled in the past financial year.

The society pledged that no one would leave through compulsory redundancy in 2020, although chief executive Joe Garner conceded head count had been reduced. The society has told 13,000 office staff they can work more flexibly.

Mr Garner told the Daily Echo during a conference call with journalists: “We’re not removing anyone from anywhere. We’re giving our people the choice to work from where it’s best for them to work for that particular day.

“I fully expect that people will continue to travel to offices, they’ll continue to travel to town centres but they’ll do so with probably different patterns from how they did previously.

“So I think that you will still see our people coming into Bournemouth and shopping in Bournemouth. They will also shop in other locations as well and I reiterate the point that people are still going to have lunch, they might just have lunch in a different place. People are still going to shop but their patterns will be different and we all need to adapt to the changing needs of our employees and of our customers.

Nationwide to let staff work from anywhere

“We remain absolutely committed to Bournemouth. Our people are there, they will be spending and shopping in Bournemouth and we’ll continue to look at how habits evolve as the world evolves and respond to them accordingly.

“What we’ve done is take a flexible position which we think we’ll be able to adapt around however people can best work and live their lives.

“I think it’s so important that we’re responding to what people are telling us about what works for their health, their wellbeing, for their lives and for their productivity.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Nationwide in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth

In preliminary results for the financial year ending in April 2021, Nationwide said the pandemic had seen households top up their savings accounts in record numbers.

Deposits increased by £10.6billion as shops and the leisure industry remained closed for large parts of the year, compared with £5.7bn the year before the pandemic.

Those who struggled financially during the pandemic were helped with 256,000 mortgage payment holidays and 105,000 payment breaks for loans and credit cards.

Nationwide revealed pre-tax profits rose from £466million to £823m due to a rise in income and cost-cutting measures across the business.

Some Nationwide jobs to go in restructure (but society sticks to branch pledge)

Mortgages remained strong, with customers taking advantage of the stamp duty holiday, although stricter criteria saw overall mortgage lending down slightly from £30.9bn to £29.6bn.

During the year, Nationwide introduced 90 per cent loan-to-value mortgages and also brought in 95 per cent loan-to-value mortgages this month.

Cost-cutting helped with the profit boost, with bosses revealing administrative expenses fell by £94m to £2.2bn.

Nationwide said: “Remote working has been popular with colleagues and made us more productive. The flexibility also helps us better serve our members. We are therefore adopting a flexible working model into the future, where colleagues can choose where they work.”